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To be eligible for the World Series, a player must be on the Active, Disabled (…), Suspended, or Military List of a qualifying team as of Midnight Eastern Time on August 31, or on such data, be under control, but not yet reported on assignment from another organization.

DZ: So it’s the 25-man on August 25th.

However, if any eligible player or players is unable to render service in the World Series because of a specific injury or ailment, a Club may, upon submission of written proof of disability, request permission from the Commissioner for replacement of said player or players from an affiliated Minor League Club. Any such replacement must have been on the roster of an affiliated Minor League Club on and prior to August 31 and must have remained within the Major League Club’s affiliated system until the end of the Major League championship season.

DZ: Gotta be in the org before August 31st. I don’t see the 40-man roster requirement here, which could mean F-Rod was legal last year… though I’m not sure what the defininitions of affiliated system are, and that might be that.

A pitcher may be replaced only by a pitcher. A player other than a pitcher may be replaced only by a player other than a pitcher. Any roster substitution pursuant to this Rule 40 can be accomplished only with the express consent of the Commissioner. No more than 25 players shall be eligible in the case of any qualifying team. No substitutions may be made after the commencement of the World Series.

DZ: and there’s the pitcher-for-pitcher, position player-for-position player rule that gets ignored a lot.

If Manny Ramirez is indeed suspended indefinitely by the Red Sox, this is great news for the M’s. He’s a huge part of that killer lineup the Red Sox field, and they’re much worse without him (though, of course, standard caveats apply about how anything can happen in a couple games: a backup could out-hit Manny’s season-to-date, as unlikely as that is). Mmm… wild card. Tastes like cellophane.

You’ve seen those ads the M’s run, where they “thank the best fans in baseball.” Gee, and thanks to the Mariners organization for that meaningless gesture, it means a lot to me considering the massive screwing you’ve given all of us the last two years between the lying about budgets to the apathy about putting together a solid, deep team. I feel much better now.

September Wheel of Call-Ups

M’s called up two pitchers: RHP Aaron Looper and RHP J.J. Putz, neither of who offer anything particularly interesting. On the hitting side, they pulled UT-R Chad Meyers and OF-R Jamal Strong. Nothing huge there, except Jamal Strong now becomes an interesting right-handed bench bat who can single or walk, and also he’s now by far the team’s best pinch-running option for Edgar.

Jamal Strong hit .305/.390/.371 in Tacoma — that’s right, his slugging percentage is lower than his on-base. For all his speed, Strong only legged out 6 doubles. I’m a huge fan of Strong, in the sense that I love guys who work their ass off to make the most of their tools. I’m worried at every level he’s not going to be able to hit enough or draw enough walks to maintain an OBP high enough to be productive, but he’s managed it so far.

Meyers, btw, hit .300/.361/.401.

Meche’s sham option also ended, and he’s back on the 25-man. And MLB.com reported the team “selected” the contract of Sweeney, which I’ve never heard of. Did they pick it out of a pile?

The next potential round of reinforcements is about a week and a half out, when San Antonio gets out of the playoffs, and we could see some of these other guys — though I think it’s likely they’ll almost all be given the rest of the year off. Ugueto will be up, of course, so get those jerseys and banners ready.

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Jason here, also not dead. There’s a new Big Board in the works, but I’ve kind of been waiting to see what they do in terms of calling up pitchers from Tacoma. Other than that you’re not missing much, as the only two clubs in the organization still playing are Seattle and Everett. If you haven’t made it up to Everett yet this season, you have three more chances: tonight, tomorrow and Thursday. I’m not one to talk as I haven’t made it up there yet this season, but I’m working to remedy that this week.

As for the M’s, frankly I don’t know what to think at this point. Are they good enough to take the division or the wild card? Yeah, sure. I don’t find myself all that excited by the team, however, particularly as the A’s have won nine in a row and the Red Sox seven of their last ten. I do know this, however — I have tickets for two of the season’s final three games against Oakland, and as the saying goes, a team of wild horses couldn’t keep me away.

Yes, I’m alive, and thanks for asking. After a weekend trip to Cleveland and a trip down the Dan River, I find that the M’s are still two games back of Oakland, but aren’t the trainwreck that they were when I left.

By the way, three cheers to Derek, who does way more free work than anyone else out there. Between his hilarious poetry, background work on writing scripts so people can check the site thousands of times a day, and witty insights, its pretty clear that Derek is the best thing going for Mariner fans.

For those of you who follow the minors, I’ll be doing a year-in-review later this week. I’ll update the Future Forty, give out some random awards, and basically make sure you know everything of note that occurred in the system the past few months.